The invention relates to a method and the device for weighing masses and to a device for treating food products, comprising a conveyor, a treatment device, and input scales and output scales disposed at the conveyor upstream and downstream of the treatment device in the direction of conveyance.
An example of a device of the last-mentioned type is an injector with which brine or other liquids are injected into food products such as meat, fish or poultry.
A known device of this type has been described in DE 196 28 898 A1. The input scales and the output scales serve for measuring the weight of the food product in the state prior to the injection of the liquid and after the injection, so that, by comparing the measurement results, the increase in weight of the food products and, accordingly, the amount of injected liquid can be determined. The conveyor is divided into three distinct conveyor sections one of which forms the scales table of the input scales and another forming the scales table of the output scales. The treatment device (the injector) is disposed above another conveyor section that interconnects the sections associated with the input scales and the output scales, so that a continuous conveyor path for the food products is established, the products being transferred from an end of each conveyor section to the subsequent section. The scales tables of the input scales and the output scales, which are respectively formed by one of the conveyor sections, are thus uncoupled mechanically, so that only those products are weighed that are present on the respective scales table. The products are advanced intermittently by means of the conveyor, and the cycle of the injector is synchronized with the cycle of the conveyor such that a needle carrier of the injector descends towards the intermediate conveyor section and the food products disposed thereon whenever the latter are at rest under the injector. The needle carrier is equipped with downwardly projecting needles that will then penetrate into the food products so that the liquid is injected into the product via the needles.
EP 1 839 489 A1 describes a pickling system in which the weight of ham can be measured before and after the pickling process. To that end, the pieces of ham are aligned on the conveyor in such a manner that they have equal intervals in the direction of conveyance, so that they can be weighed individually one after the other.